The processors are the first made using a 22-nanometer process. The manufacturing technology refers to the width of each transistor on a chip, a measure that Intel has consistently been able to reduce, paving the way for smaller, less expensive processors.

It’s all part of Moore’s Law, the principle named after Intel’s co-founder Gordon Moore, in which the number of transistors that companies have been able put on an integrated circuit has roughly doubled every two years.

“We’re able to continue the shrink and get greater level of performance and better power,” spokesman Bill Calder said in an interview.

More recently, analysts see Intel
/quotes/zigman/20392/quotes/nls/intcINTC focusing increasingly on the power part of the equation as it competes in the smartphone and tablet markets with chips based on reputedly more power-efficient designs of ARM Holdings.

The first wave of Ivy Bridge chips is aimed primarily at high-end systems, and users focused on gaming, video editing and content creation.

Intel is expected to introduce later this year newer processors for Ultrabooks, the new category of ultrathin, low power notebooks which the chipmaker has been promoting.

The Ivy Bridge launch, said Evercore Partners analyst Patrick Wang, “also signals the start of the second generation Ultrabook which should offer a compelling experience similar to that of Apple’s MacBook Air.”

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